


Exit Doors

by SethLost



Category: The Try Guys (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen, Horror, Mystery, Paranormal, Thriller, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28446171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SethLost/pseuds/SethLost
Summary: For a video, the Try Guys had flown out to the wilderness to visit the Black Hills Honorary Hospital in South Dakota, a massive refurbished insane asylum turned interactive escape room, with over four hundred employed actors and 20 floors. However, soon enough, they start to realize not all is right with the echoey halls...
Relationships: Ned Fulmer & Keith Habersberger & Zach Kornfeld & Eugene Lee Yang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	1. Wine Red

**Author's Note:**

> I went on an Outlast binge right after watching Try Guys videos. How could you blame me.
> 
> There are some violent things, but I'll mark uncomfy moments in the notes before the chapter. 
> 
> TW: Mentions of blood
> 
> Barely through the first puzzle, Eugene starts to realize something isn't quite right.

They were off to an asylum escape room this time.

The channel couldn't get enough of the Try Not To Die Alone video, and through all of the rest of the year, Ned decided it would be fun to make another one, in a different place. With all of the hype about an escape room, the guys took the gamble and asked for a new place to run from.

The Black Hills Honorary Hospital was huge. It had to have a bigger base than four of the White Houses side by side, and twice as tall as an apartment in China. It towered over them.

"This is where you'll be escaping from today!" The bright, bubbly guide, Aku Lee, said, giving them a sweet smile. "When you enter, you'll be on your own. We do have thousands of cameras installed, so if something happens and you need to be rescued-" Ned's eyes widened a little bit more- "we'll be able to get you out of there quicker and safer. 

"Your goal is to make it up to the 20th floor." She pointed up to the top of the building, shielding her eyes against the setting sun. "There, you'll find your way down through a passageway, where my fiancee will be waiting for you. She'll get you down from any shock or just calm you down in general, and if anyone's hurt, let us know immediately so we can fire whoever violated the 'no contact' rule. Okay?" She looked over the guys with a cheerful smile. "Any questions?"

"How much time do we have?" Eugene asked. 

"As long as it takes you. If you're in there for too long, we will take you out and let you recuperate, but you are allowed to go back in after your testing period if you want to continue." 

"And how many people will be there to help if we need it?" Zach asked.

Aku's smile deepened. "We have up to 40 trained professionals and about 100 volunteers every year. All of the monsters are actors with CPR training and emergency medical knowledge, because it is a high building and there are a few sharp things involved, so we made sure you were in safe hands."

Ned piped up. "How long did you say it usually takes people to get through?"

"On average, about two hours, give or take. If you can't get past a puzzle, you have 10 hints you can use, but you have to collectively agree to use them one at a time. And if you need assistance, look for it in unexpected places." She winked, continuing to lead them up the hill where the hospital rested as the sun crested down to hide beneath the horizon.

"I don't like this," Ned mumbled over Keith's shoulder.

"We'll stay together. If something goes wrong, Aku said, they've got trained professionals in every floor of the building. We're safe," Keith responded, captivated by the sheer size of the building as the entrance came into sight. 

The arch was an ornate hand carved marble with beautiful tiny details. Aku stepped up and ran her finger over it, before knocking once, then pausing, and knocking three times. The door swung open, seemingly on its own, and Aku strolled confidently forward. "C'mon, boys, don't be scared!" Her voice echoed down the long corridor, before it disappeared fully from sight and from view. 

They entered through a smaller door next to the main entrance, and were dispensed into a small room with old green paint sloppily covering yellowed drywall. It had one massive table in the center, with a white tablecloth holding four wine glasses, each filled at different amounts. Other than a giant woodland painting, the room was empty.

Oh, and the door that slammed shut the second they crossed the threshold.

Already, something felt bad.

Eugene took a look at the wine glasses, the red liquid inside too translucent to be blood--"It's probably just wine, guys"--but too thin and colored to be colored water. They were on each side of the square table, resting in perfectly sized holes slit in the tablecloth.

"Listen, I don't trust this." Ned stared disapprovingly at the table. "Someone better taste this. Just to make sure it's not."

"Are you crazy?" Keith smacked his shoulder. "It's a prop, are you sure they'd want us to drink it?"

"Well, if no one else will," Eugene said, taking one of the glasses. He sipped, a very small amount spread across his tongue. It was tangy like wine, but just not the flavor he was looking for. "I think it's just diluted red wine."

Zach shook his head, stunned. "Eugene, you're insane."

"Noticed." Eugene grinned, tipping a nonexistent hat.

Ned touched the side of the painting, moving it side to side. "Hey, Keith, come help me take this down."

"Okay!" Keith hopped over and took a side of the painting, lifting it off the wall. "Oh, shit!"

"What is it?" Eugene looked over.

"There's a safe here. Like the movies! I was right!" Ned pumped a fist. 

"But it needs a combination code." Keith pointed at the lock. "It needs 8 letters."

"Eugene..." Zach studied the glass furthest from him. "C'mere for a sec."

Eugene made his way over, where Zach was eye level with the wine. He hadn't touched the glass yet, but he pointed at a mark. "Does this look like an N to you?"

"Hmm." Eugene laid his arms flat on the table and looked at the smudge. "Yeah, it does. Do all of them have that?" He stood to check another, but a second smudge on the same glass caught his eye. This one was just a dot though, facing the wall to the left of the N. "Wait, what's this?"

"They all have two marks, but this one has an S." Zach squinted at the wine. "This one just looks like a smudge though. Do you think they messed up the props?"

"No..." Eugene thought for a moment. N and S, those were easy. North and South. But the dots? "Zach, what wall is your dot facing?"

"Um, this one." He pointed at the wall with the door.

"No, relative to the S. If you're looking at the S, what direction is the dot going?"

"Right."

North, and left. South and right. N, L, S, R...

He bent down to look at the next glass. It had a clearly written E on it, but the dot was on the same side.

In front? Forward? Maybe F. So N, L, S, R, E, F.

The next one pretty obviously had a W, and the dot was opposite to the letter. Behind, back, B.

"Keith!" Eugene repeated the code in a mantra in his head.

"What's up?"

"Try this, for the code. N, L, S, R, E, F, and then W, and B."

Ned methodically put in the letters, and the padlock clicked and fell to the ground. "Fuck yeah! How did you know that?"

Eugene grinned. "North, left, south, right, east, front, west, back. It's on the wine glasses."

Keith slowly opened the safe, but instead of revealing a package or a clue, it just opened into a tunnel about the size of a box fan.

"Are we supposed to go through there?" Zach asked. "I dunno if I can get up there, man."

"I'll boost you. C'mon!" Keith knelt and knitted his fingers together. 

Zach stepped nervously up, and looked through. "Are you sure you want me to go first? If I fall down a gate or something I don't think I'm getting back up."

"Nah, you got this!" Ned shrugged it off. "We'll be right behind you."

Zach vanished into the tunnel. Keith helped Ned up next, and Eugene clambered in by himself. He could hear Keith clatter gangly behind.

He hopped down into a massive hallway, where Zach and Ned waited. He stepped in front, walling slowly.

Eugene stopped in his tracks as Keith struggled to get out of the tunnel, a set of stairs easy to see on the opposite end. Ned, who was cowering behind, slammed into him. Keith bumped into Ned, and Zach bumped into Keith. "Eugene?" Ned whispered, getting the sense that something was wrong.

Eugene put up a finger and took a cautious step forward. He could feel in his stomach that something wasn't right, with the slight feeling of dizziness and queasiness that drifted over him slowly as he continued. "Hold your breath," he whispered back. 

Taking a deep breath, he charged towards the stairs with all his might.

Halfway up he knew in his bones he was right; even trying to stop his breathing, his trachea burned, but he made it to the top and further away, coughing and bracing himself against a wall. Fear bubbled in his stomach, and he wrapped an arm around himself, trying to calm his breathing.

He turned to see Zach run fiercly past him, a good six feet from the top of the stairwell, and turn to look at it nervously. He held an anxious thumbs up to Eugene, who nodded, and let go of the breath he was holding. 

Ned was next, holding his chest with a curled fist in front of his mouth. He just past the threshold before heaving a big gasp of breath, and turning just as Keith crashed into him and knocked him over.

Nearly five minutes later, Zach piped up with a, "Eugene?"

"Hmm?" Eugene was still struggling to maintain composure, the anxiety still filling him from head to toe.

"How did you know?"

"I... uh, took a guess. There were things on the contract and I--" he paused to swallow nervously, "--felt like something was wrong, like it was too easy. Then my chest started burning, so I assumed."

"Jesus!" Ned took the GoPro off his headband, looking through its lens. "That was intense! Eugene caught a whiff of something strange and maybe saved our lives!" He was grinning with adrenaline, on his feet and bouncing up and down excitedly. "Well, we gotta keep going!"

"Maybe we should've waited 'till Christmas." Keith stood fully upright, taking a breath, and nodded. "Let's go, guys!'

And so, they started down the massive curved hallway, ready to tackle whatever the second floor held for them.

Eugene was terrified. 

Something real deep inside him was insisting they were in a fuck ton of danger, right now. All he wanted to do was get out of there. But Ned was having fun, and Keith and Zach didn't seem to notice the scratches on the wall that looked too natural to be self designed.

Damn. Eugene hated this.

Zach insisted on turning the knob of every door in the hall, which resulted in a couple startling knocks or screams. By the fifth and final door, they were ready for a response.

This one, however, was silent. And as Zach touched the handle, it drifted open on its own.

"Oh, fuck this!" Keith stepped behind Eugene, who was purposely holding himself in the back of the group. "I ain't goin' in there, man, every single horror game ever has this exact moment and it results in immediate death!"

"Well who's going, because I'd rather not!" Zach backed up, hands in an 'I surrender' pose.

"You are! You touched the door!" Ned crossed his arms.

Eugene sighed, anxiety welling up inside of him. He pushed past both Ned and Zach, dipping his head and entering the room, studying the stray desk and chair carefully.

The flowers were wilting. 

He crossed the room with faked confidence and glanced again at the vase of flowers. Something itched at the back of his neck. He swore, whatever's in that vase, that isn't water.

Fine, he scoffed at his inner voice, and glanced inside the vase.

That can't be water.

It was far too dark to be water, and with the lack of light in the room, it was difficult to discern the color... perhaps a deep brown, or... red?

His eye twitched and he reflexively stepped back. His eyes never left the vase as it toppled off the desk and shattered, spilling what could only be blood at his feet, with four vastly different colored flowers spread in the puddle, dead and crumbling.

"Eugene?" Zach called from the doorframe. None of the guys had entered behind him. "You okay?"

He couldn't speak. He stared at the pottery, with an overwhelming sense that some, SOMETHING, was going to happen-

A hand grabbed him around the back of his throat, and he was thrown into the wall.

~~~~

"Eugene! Eugene, please, man, you gotta wake up!"

That voice was murmered, differing from the clear and quiet whispering in his ear.

Leave, now. Run. Your life depends on it. 

"Eugene!" 

A few seconds past your welcome stay could end everything. 

"Please!" 

You've got one night. 

Escape.


	2. Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eugene regains footing in the material realm, and the guys start to take him seriously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! With a short quick addition, sorry, I know. Horror is less my forte than whump, but surrealism and cliffhangers are my bread and butter.
> 
> Enjoy!

When Eugene finally managed to open his eyes, his vision was blurred and painful. He was dizzy and unstable.

Oh.There was a hand in front of his face.

He groaned, trying to sit up fully. His head ached, but not badly--only a moderate hangover. Raising a hand, he itched his ear. 

"...Eugene?"

"Keith," he finally managed, his eyes still only half opened. "What happened...?"

"Oh, thank God, you're alive. I really thought you were dead there."

He forced himself to meet Keith's eyes, which were wide with concern. Usually, he could see some sort of joke, or humor, in the irises, but all he saw was worry. 

Eugene propped himself up with one elbow, retaining as much calm as possible. "I need to know what happened. Please."

Keith nodded. He held out a hand, and started helping him up. "I was in the back, I didn't see much, but Ned says something grabbed you and you disappeared. We heard a crash, so we ran in and you were on the floor. You didn't respond, I checked for a pulse, but I... was scared, that you would die."

"Hey." Eugene was unsteady, but he put an arm around Keith's shoulder. "I'm here, I'm alive. We're okay, right?"

"Yeah." Keith looked down at his feet.

"Keith, I got--oh my God!" Zach ran into the room, throwing his arms around Eugene. For once, he didn't cringe away. "You're awake!"

"Can't get rid of me that easily," he said with a grin. "Where's Ned?"

"He was outside trying to find water, see if he could shock you awake with it."

Eugene scoffed. "If it worked, I would've ended up punching him."

"He assumed."

Ned peered around the corner, and his jaw dropped. "Great. Now I can't actually dump water in your face."

"Well, I mean, you could--" Keith started.

"Try me, bitch," Eugene interrupted.

Ned handed him a water bottle. "I'm glad you're okay, man."

He only nodded in response.

"So..." Zach whistled. "What the fuck is wrong with this place?"

"Yeah! I mean, I just thought it was some spooky asylum challenge for an escape room video, but either this is real fucking intense, or something isn't right." Keith flipped his own water bottle on the side of the desk.

Eugene almost reached out to stop him, but instead, he said quiety, "Something's wrong with this place."

Ned turned to look at him, intrigue crossing his face, yet seeing the expression Eugeene had stopped caring about hiding, the smile slipped into a confused frown.

"This isn't a good place. At least, not right now."

Zach laughed nervously. "You can't be serious. Stop acting all mysterious, man, you have to be trying to scare us."

"Really? How did this happen, then?" Eugene lifted his chin, showing of the strange handprint wrapping around his throat. "Either there's an actor here that's really fucking messed up, or we're not... supposed to be here..." he trailed off as his neck started to itch, the hairs on his arms raising ever so slightly. He looked around the room, glancing in each corner quickly.

"Eugene?" Keith asked.

"Out." Eugene took Zach by the arm, motioning quickly, and began to jog towards the door.

It slammed shut.

"Fuck!" He grabbed the knob, letting go of Zach, and yanked desperately on it. The wood cracked with the force of his strength, but the latch didn't move.

"You're... taking this a little weirdly, Eugene. It has to be part of the attraction... right?" Ned asked, looking up at Keith.

A shock slammed down Eugene's spine as he made eye contact with Ned. 

Fuck.

"Ned, duck!" Eugene threw himself at Ned, who looked confused, turning to look up at a... shadow... behind him.

He grabbed his friend and shoved him backwards, towards Zach and Keith, and held out both of his hands. "Stop! We have one night. One night!"

The shadow grew larger, surrounding the room. A deep voice echoed, directionless, and rattled into his skull. 

Interesting. You forget, Eugene Lee Yang, that she gave you one night to escape.

He fought to clutch his ears to block out the sound. He heard Zach yelling his name over the storm of the voice that dug into his mind, cutting too deep.

She said nothing about your safety when running.

"Go!" Eugene screamed, turning and charging for the exit. Things snagged at his shirt, his clothes, and he reached out, begging, pleading, just let me out, please--

A hand grabbed his wrist and yanked him out into the hallway.

The light was blinding, and he hunched over, covering his eyes, trying to cover his ears. The person grasped his waist and half-carried him away from the door, towards what might be an elevator. To the top. The top floor. Let them out, please.

One night.

He opened his eyes into the blinding light.

I will grant you the night to fight your way through, but if by the end, you have nothing to prove yourself, and your friends... 

You will never leave.


End file.
